Filler for crates.



No. 742,704. PATENTED OCT. 27, 1903.

W. A. MELROSE.

' FILLER FOR GRATES.

- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 16. 1903.

N 0 H 0 D E L.

UNITED STATES Patented October 27, 1 90% PATENT OFFICE.

WIL IAM A. MELROSE, or ELWOOD, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF To JOHN W. PERTZ,

OF ELWOOD, INDIANA.

FILLER FOR CRATEQ.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 742,704, dated oetoter a.

Application filed May 16, 1903. Serial No. 157,337.

(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, WILLIAM A. MELRosE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elwood, in the county of Madison and State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fillers for Grates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates particularly to fillers for egg-crates, and resides in the novel and cheap construction of the cells and the. supporting parts. The basic idea thereof is to form the cells of rolls of cardboard or stifi paper and to connect and support the same by a central fiat sheet of cardboard or similar material in holes in which the rolls are inserted.

In the accompanying drawings several forms of the invention are illustrated.

Figures 1 and 2 are respectively top and side views of one form; Figs. 3 and 4, similar views of another form, and Figs. 5 and 6 similar views of still another form.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the cells are indicated at 6,each of which is formed of a roll of rather stiff paper or cardboard of suificient size and length to receive the egg or other article with which the crate is to be packed. These rolls are inserted in round holes in the flat sheet of cardboard, (indicated at 7,) and the elasticity of the paper forming the rolls serves to keep them in position in the holes. This action is assisted in various ways, as hereinafter described.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the outer end of the paper forming the roll is notched, as at 8, and the edge of the cardboard sheet enters this notch, thereby serving to hold the roll and the cardboard sheet in respective place and position.

In the form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 two rolls are formed of one piece of paper having a connecting portion 9, which extends across and above the cardboard sheet between the two rolls; The portion of the connection below the cardboard sheet is cut away, so that the rolls may be inserted in the holes. The

connecting portion 9 forms a projection,which paper having holes therein,

prevents the rolls fronrfalling through the sheet of cardboard.

In the construction shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the paper forming the roll has two corru= gations or ribs (indicated at 10) running around the roll one above and one below the central cardboardrsheet. These corrugations are formed in the paper before it is rolled and put in the supporting-sheet, and the ribs or corrugations form projections which serve to prevent the roll from moving up and down. The roll shown in these figures is also notched at the ends, as shown at 11, for the purpose of ventilation, which is particularly essentialin cold storage.

In packing a crate the rolls or fillers above described will be separated by sheets of card board between the several layers, and the eggs or other articles will be confined within the tubes or rolls between such sheets. The whole filler can be readily cut from sheets of cardboard and paper. No pasting or fasteners are necessary. To assemble the parts, it is only necessary to roll up the paper and stick the rolls so formed in the holes, and to separate the parts it is only necessary to curl the roll tighter and decrease its size, when it can be readily withdrawn from the hole in the cardboard sheet. Thus all the parts may be flattened and so shipped in small compass.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A filler for crates, comprising elastic rolls removably inserted in holes in a sheet and held therein by their own elasticity.

2. A filler for crates, comprising removable expansible tubes inserted in holes in a sheet.

3. A filler for crates, comprising a sheet of and removable paper tubes in the holes formed of rolled strips having unconnected ends.

4. A filler for crates, comprising a sheet having holes therein, and eXpansible paperrolls removably inserted in the holes and having projections engaging the sheet at the edge of the holes.

5. A filler for crates, comprising a sheet having holes therein, and tubes in the holes, In testimony whereof I have signed my said tubes being formed by rolling a strip of name to this specification in the presence of IO paper, and having a notch in the free end of two subscribing Witnesses.-

the strip receiving the edge of the sheet.

5 6. A filler for crates, comprising a sheet WILLIAM MELROSE' having holes therein, and tubes in the holes Witnesses: having circumferential ribs projecting above H. O. AUSTILL,

and below the sheet.

G. F. MoYER. 

